


Almost Something

by OneForMischief



Series: I Don't Have a Choice (But I'd Still Choose You) [1]
Category: The Originals (TV), Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Brief mentions of Elijah, But just in case: blood?, F/M, Family Feels, Grief/Mourning, If I need to warn for mentions of blood in this fandom I feel like we have bigger issues anyway, Klayley, Major Character Undeath, Which you know but Klaus doesn't
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-15
Updated: 2014-05-15
Packaged: 2018-01-24 22:52:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1619879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneForMischief/pseuds/OneForMischief
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was a fighter, his little wolf. She was a fighter and all of the fight has poured out of her, scarlet red across the floor.</p><p>[The missing scene in which Klaus ends up on the floor holding Hayley.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Almost Something

When Klaus comes to, his daughter is gone.  
  
That's his first thought, and then he sees the blood dripping down the side of the altar and his heart sinks.  
  
"No," he growls, pulling himself up and brushing a hand over her shredded throat. "No, you can't be gone. Somebody can…”

The memory comes then, unbidden – the blade, the blood, the screaming, though whether it was hers or his he can’t say. She’s been lying there alone for at least five minutes, long past out of time.  
  
He picks her up so that he can carry her anywhere else at all, thinking of the last time he carried her like this, when she had survived an attack he was terrified would take her and the baby away from him. She's a fighter.  
  
Was.  
  
The past tense drags him to the floor, and he finds himself cradling her head as though it matters now. His fingers brush her stomach when he shifts her, the absence of the kicking swell he loved drawing a cry of anguish from him. He tries to move his hand away but that hurts more, so he leaves it there to remind him of the ways he failed her.  
  
She was a fighter, his little wolf. She was a fighter and all of the fight has poured out of her, scarlet red across the floor.  
  
He is an immortal creature. He has built armies with nothing but his own teeth and blood, ruled cities with less, and none of that means a damn thing now. Not in the face of this.  
  
She had been looking right into his eyes when it happened. He had been so close, screaming for her and vowing their revenge on those holding her down. A captive audience at the execution of his heart.  
  
Hayley is dead, and he cannot tell her what that look had done to his ancient, lonely soul. What her half-smile through the pain had meant.  
  
In the worst moment of their lives, a shared glance and their healthy daughter were enough that they were almost happy. It was almost something. _They_ were almost something.  
  
"I think I might have loved you," he murmurs, pressing a kiss to her temple and letting his tears fall.  
  
He stays there and watches her face, unaware of the passage of time, until his brother waves his hand between them, the motion sharp and reminding him that there is one last fight to finish for her.  
  
"She's gone,” he tells Elijah, and he doesn't know which of them he means, but he will get their daughter back, and make sure that she knows how much her mother loved her.

It will never be enough, but it's all he can do for Hayley now and he will not fail her again.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not 100% happy with this, but I like the next part and might never be sure about this one, so here it is anyway.
> 
> Series title is from "Poison & Wine" by The Civil Wars, which in my head is sort of the quintessential Klayley song.


End file.
